Sweet Torment: A Novella Read online

  “Will you keep our secret until we’re ready to tell everyone?”

  “Yes, but first I need to know one thing. Are you being safe?”

  “More than safe. He hasn’t touched me.”

  My mom’s brows lift. “I suppose with Bram that shouldn’t surprise me. It would be just like him to handle you with the utmost respect. He’d never do anything to upset us or your brother regarding you.”

  It’s an enormous relief to have my mother’s approval. “Thank you for being so understanding. You’re the best mom in the world.”

  She looks up and blinks rapidly. “Don’t make me cry. I can’t have runny mascara in the pictures.”

  “I’m going to put on my dress while you grab a tissue and blot.”

  I slip into the short turquoise sequin gown and Mom pulls the zipper upward. I step into my silver pumps and rise three inches. I’d be considered average height now. Maybe.

  “You look beautiful, baby girl.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Let’s see if the boys are still here. I’d like to get some pictures with them.”

  I’m thrilled when we find Bram and Owen still in the living room. Owen stands and gives me the once-over. “Wooo… check out this hot tamale.”

  I hold out the skirt of my dress and do a spin. “Like it?”

  “You look great, sis. Every boy at that prom is going to want to dance with you.”

  Bram’s brow wrinkles. Don’t go there, Duke. Don’t start questioning what I’ll be doing tonight while I’m not with you.

  “You know me. I’m not much of a dancer.”

  Mom taps Bram on the shoulder. “Up. I want a picture of you and Claudia together.”

  Owen tosses his hands in the air. “Well, shit, Mom. You don’t want one of your son and daughter together?”

  “Hold your horses, Owen. I’ll get your picture in a minute.”

  Bram’s grin is wide when he approaches. “You look gorgeous.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Bram, put your arm around Claudia.”

  He does as Mom says but also lowers his head to whisper in my ear. “Owen’s right. All the boys are going to want you.”

  “Doesn’t matter. I don’t like boys. I’m into men.” I love the huge smile that spreads across his face.

  “I want some pictures by the azaleas.” Mom takes at least fifty pictures of us. The whole time I’m thinking one thing—years from now, we’ll show these pictures to our kids and tell them the story of us.

  “Hey, no one told me there was a photo shoot. I want in.” River dashes across the lawn and wraps his arms around me from behind, doing the dreaded prom pose.

  “Almost done but I need one of you and the boys together.”

  River steps back so Bram can take the spot next to me. It’s funny how it’s always been that way, even when we were kids. He has always instinctively known Bram’s place was by my side.

  If you went through photos of when I was a baby or toddler, you’d see that nine times out of ten it was Bram holding me. Occasionally Owen and rarely River.

  “Look who I found.” I follow the sound of my dad’s voice and see him, Oscar, and his parents coming toward our photo shoot location by the hot-pink azaleas.

  I’m not super excited about Bram seeing me with Oscar, so I play it off as platonic as possible. “Hey, it’s pork chop looking all snazzy in a tux.” Calling a guy pork chop is about as unromantic as it gets.

  He grins and adjusts his bow tie. “I guess I clean up all right.”

  He comes to me and opens a clear plastic container holding a spray of flowers. “Corsage for the lady.”

  Shit. I don’t think it’s good for your boyfriend to see another guy give you flowers of any kind. “It’s beautiful, but you didn’t have to do that.”

  “That’s what a prom date does.” I wish Oscar hadn’t referred to himself as my date in front of Bram. Although he’s aware we’re going together as friends, I know Bram won’t like hearing that.

  “Thank you.” I glance at Bram when Oscar slides the elastic band around my wrist. Just as I suspected, he doesn’t look happy.

  “Come stand with Claudia, Oscar. I need to get pictures of you two. Don’t worry. I’ll be quick since I know you need to leave for the party bus soon.”

  Oscar puts his arms around me, more of the dreaded prom pose, but I put on happy appearances for the camera. When we finish, I glance at Bram and his broad smile has been replaced with a scowl. Well, shit. Nothing I can do about it now.

  “I need to grab my clutch before we go.”

  I’m dashing out of my bedroom when I collide with Bram in the hallway.

  “I’ve changed my mind. I want to see you later tonight, so text me when you leave prom.”

  I can’t stop the smile spreading on my face. “Okay. But what about the two numbnuts?”

  “I’ll come up with something.” He shrugs. “Maybe pull out the Jack Daniels and get them to do shots.”

  Drunk and passed out. “I like that plan a lot.”

  “Damn, I want to kiss you, but I’ll mess up your lipstick.”

  “How about I let you mess it up later?” Maybe leave a ring around his cock.

  “Deal.”

  8

  Bram Windsor

  I tried to get away with drinking as little whiskey as possible, but I should have known getting Owen and River drunk would involve me getting buzzed myself. I was nuts for thinking I could pull out a bottle of whiskey and them not rag me into drinking with them. It’s guy law.

  Lucky for me that Claudia’s party bus thing doesn’t end for another couple of hours. That gives me a little time to down some water and sober up. I don’t need my judgment clouded where she’s concerned. I already take too many chances with her when I haven’t had anything to drink. But throw a hard dick, a willing girl, and some Jack Daniels into the mix and you’ve got a recipe for some exceptionally bad decision-making.

  One hour, then two, and I’m a little less than shit-faced when she texts.

  On my way

  Ready to see you, bae. Door is unlocked.

  It’s going on two o’clock and I’ve had an undetermined number of shots. It’s a struggle to keep my eyes open while I wait for Claudia. Sleep is close to claiming me when my bedroom door finally opens. “Claud? Is that you?”

  Dumbass. You shouldn’t have said her name in case it’s Owen or River.

  “It’s me.”

  “Hey, bae. Did you have a good time?”

  “It was okay.”

  I still remember my prom. We had more fun than any high schoolers should be allowed to have. “Only okay?”

  “Prom is one of the most important events in your life, but you weren’t there to share it with me. It just didn’t feel all that special to me.”

  I may be a little drunk and perhaps a little sleepy, but I come to full attention when I hear the sound of a zipper. “What are you doing?”

  The covers move and a soft, warm, luscious body slides into my bed.

  “Claud, what the fuck are you doing? Owen will kill me if he finds you like this in my bed.” And it’ll be a slow, painful death.

  “I checked on him and River when I came in. They’re both snoring like lumberjacks sawing wood. They’ll never know I’m here.”

  She crawls over my body and straddles my hips. I automatically reach out to touch her and feel warm, soft, smooth skin in place of sequins and satin. “Claud…”

  “You smell like whiskey. I like it.” She leans down to kiss the side of my neck and rubs her pussy back and forth against my growing erection. “Please, Duke. Don’t tell me to stop. Not this time.”

  We’ve played around a little more the last couple of weeks but she’s never gotten on top of me like this. And she’s certainly never done it without clothes. “You’re naked.”

  “Not entirely. I’m still wearing panties… and fuck-me pumps.”

  Those three-inch heels made her legs look a mile long. And those
pink lace panties… the ones she pulled to the side so she could give a peep show. So fucking sexy.

  “I can’t touch you.” I sound like a fucking broken record. I know she tires of hearing it—and I tire of saying it—but nothing has changed.

  “You’ve been saying that for months.” She grabs my hands and puts them on her waist as she rolls her hips in a circular motion. “I. Say. You. Can.”

  That’s what my dick keeps saying, too. The two of them are in cahoots against me. And they’re wearing me down. I’m so tired of fighting my desire for her. I just want to fuck her so bad.

  Of course, I don’t want to run into problems with the law but the chance of anyone reporting us is nearly nonexistent with her birthday so soon. But the thing is, it’s not really about that for me. “It’s Owen and your parents I worry about. I want to do this the right way for us, but I also want to do it the right way for them.”

  “I have news for you, Duke. You’re still going to be six years older than me after I turn eighteen. I’m never going to catch up and I’m always going to be Owen’s baby sister.”

  “I have a better chance of gaining their approval if we wait.”

  “We already have my mom’s approval.”

  I suddenly feel very sober. “How can she give her approval if she doesn’t know about us?”

  “I swear I didn’t tell her. She figured it out on her own. Told me she had always known how much we loved each other.”

  “Do you think it’s obvious to everyone else too?”

  “I think we hide it well, but her strong mother’s intuition saw through it. Don’t you feel better knowing she has given us her blessing?”

  Maybe. I don’t know. Depends. “Is she going to tell your dad and Owen?”

  “I asked her not to and she agreed. She’s going to let us be the ones to tell everyone after my birthday.”

  “Thank fuck for that.”

  “Enough about that.” Claudia laces her fingers with mine and together we squeeze them into tight clasps. “I want you, Duke. So much. Waiting is killing me.”

  “It’s misery for me too.” My cock has stayed hard with only the little bit of relief my hand could provide. I’ve ached with need to be inside this girl. Every. Fucking. Day.

  No one can believe I stopped fucking everything with a hole. They’re all burning with the same question: Why?

  Only one answer. Her.

  Claudia Laine Bliss.

  I love the fuck out of this girl. Obsessed like a damn madman. I can’t get enough and I haven’t even fucked her yet. We’ve barely even touched. Kisses—that’s all I’ve allowed. But not after her birthday.

  I’m going to fuck her ninety-nine different ways.

  She grinds against my hard dick. Dry humping. That’s what kids do, but I’m no kid. Haven’t been for a long time.

  That damn devil is sitting on my shoulder, yelling in my ear. Fuck what everyone thinks or says. Take her. She’s yours. And she’ll feel so good. That son of a bitch has taken up permanent residence inside my head since I started seeing Claud. I’ve ignored him. But no more. I’m done with depriving myself of pleasure. “I want to look at you.”

  Maybe it’s the whiskey. Maybe it’s the case of blue balls that never go away. Maybe it’s that I’m a horny motherfucker who’s desperate for the touch of the girl he loves. Whatever it is, I can’t do this anymore. I need something, maybe just a little taste, to get me by until I can truly have her.

  I turn on the bedside light and begin my visual journey of her body, starting at the top. Her long, dark curls have been twisted into a messy top knot. “What happened to your hair?”

  “I put it up when they rolled the windows down on the party bus.”

  I don’t know what it is about a bun on top of a girl’s head but I find it super sexy. “I like it when you wear your hair like that.”

  I kneel between her feet and place the tip of my index finger on her neck just below her chin and drag it down slowly until I reach her chest. I’ve spent a lot of time picturing what her tits look like. And I’m not a bit disappointed with hers. Full. Lush. Perky. They’re everything. “So fucking gorgeous, Claudia. They’re perfect, just as I imagined they would be.”

  She cups them from below and pushes them up and together. Holy. Shit. I could nearly come right here and now.

  “All this time and you’ve never touched them.”

  And I won’t now either even though I’m dying to. “Trust me. I want to pinch and lick and suck them so much I can hardly resist.”

  Her breath hitches and she swallows hard.

  “That’s right, Claudia. I’m going to do all of those things and you’ll wear my mark when I’m finished with you.”

  Dilated pupils have made her normally blue eyes nearly black. “That’s what I want, Duke. To be marked by you. To be all yours.”

  My dick gets harder and pre-cum leaks from the tip when I look down and see the dark pink circle in the crotch of her panties. “Fuck, Claud. I can see how wet you are.”

  Her legs fall wide and she touches the dark spot with her fingertips. I’ve seen her touch herself a thousand times in my fantasies but the reality is so much better. “The proof of how much I want you.”

  We’ve lightly explored each other the last couple weeks but I haven’t dared to touch her pussy. I don’t know what it feels like to run my fingers through her folds when they’re slick from need and desire. Or what it feels like to push my fingers inside her sweet, wet cunt while she rides my hand.

  But I’m going to know. Soon.

  “Take off those damn panties. I want to see what I’ve been waiting so long to have.” She pushes her thumbs inside the waistband and lifts her sweet cheeks as she shimmies the fabric down her hips and legs. When my girl is naked, she presses her knees together, reminding me she’s never been exposed to a man until now. She looks so sweet and innocent like that.

  I hold out my hand. “Give them to me.”

  She hands over her underwear and I bring them to my nose. My dick dribbles again when I smell her feminine fragrance, her sweet nectar filling my lungs. “You smell fucking delicious.” Good enough to lick. To eat. To devour.

  Claudia lifts her leg and nudges the toe of her sparkly high heel to the bulge in my underwear. “Take them off. I want to see what I’ve waited so long to have.”

  I slide off the edge of the mattress and stand next to the bed, looking down on her. Her eyes move to my cock and widen when I push down my underwear. “Duke…”

  She doesn’t finish the sentence but I know what my girl is thinking. “I promise it will fit inside you just fine… when the time is right. But that won’t be tonight; we’re not fucking.”

  I wrap my hand around my dick and stroke it up and down as my eyes devour her naked body. I have gotten off a lot lately using only my hand and the fantasies in my head. But I’m tired of the make-believe. The need to be inside this girl has become as necessary as breath in my lungs. “Slide down in the bed.”

  I’m dying to put my mark on her but that’s an impossible task when you can’t touch someone. I’ll have to improvise.

  “I’m naked. You’re naked. Hmm… what should we do?”

  “I want to mark you the only way I can without touching you.”

  Her brow wrinkles and despite the dim lighting, I can see her cheeks fill with color. “I don’t understand what that means,” she whispers.

  How can she be so damn sexy while so innocent at the same time?

  “I know you don’t understand and that’s one of the things I adore about you—your innocence. I love that you’re untouched by any other man.” She has no idea what a fucking turn-on it is to know I’m her first everything. First love. First touch. Maybe first orgasm.

  I’ll be her alpha—and omega—even if she hasn’t come to realize that part yet. “What about your own touch?”

  She bites her lip, and her cheeks further redden. “Sometimes I touch myself when I think of you and what it might feel l
ike if we were making love. I always imagine it’s your hand between my legs instead of my own.”

  “Do you ever make yourself come?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  That’s a no. “You’d know if you had.”

  I tighten the grasp around my cock and pump harder. “Spread your legs. I want to see all of you.”

  She plants her heels flat against the bed and her knees fall apart. A small stream of juice dribbles out of her glistening pink pussy.

  I could make good use of that. Damn shame it’s going to waste. Unless it’s not.

  “Show me how you touch yourself when you imagine us making love.”

  “I don’t know how to do it right. It never works for me.”

  I take her hand in mine and press the tips of her fingers to the top of her slit. “Start here. Like this.”

  Placing pressure on her fingers, I guide her hand in a circular motion, spreading her slick nectar. “I wish I could taste you.”

  “Me too.” She closes her eyes, arches her back, and rubs harder. Faster. “I bet it would feel amazing to have your tongue doing this.”

  I’d love nothing more than to give in and say to hell with everyone but us. “I assure you the waiting is torture for me too.”

  “Please, Duke.” Her voice is full of desperation. Torment. Misery. And it breaks my heart. My girl needs to come.

  “Close your eyes, baby. Breathe slowly. Deeply. Imagine the ends of your fingers are actually the tip of my soft, wet tongue.” I guide her hand in a different motion—up and down through her slit. “Dip your fingers inside just a bit and rub right here.”

  “Duke, I’m getting so wet.”

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. She could have said anything—any fucking thing—and I could have handled it. But those words… I’m getting so wet. They’re like an offer you can’t refuse. And invitation you can’t decline. A temptation you can’t resist.

  “I can’t take it anymore. I have to taste you.” I grab her wrist and bring her hand to my mouth. Her eyes widen as she watches me suck her juices from her fingers. “You. Are. Delicious.”